yonny

I've been so envious hearing reports from mates and you Phil that the Mrs says I can go next year. Let's see if she's still saying that come this time next year though eh!

The air bomb serves a purpose but is no good for distance. The dot is pukka for heavier baits but useless for light baits (pellet, maggot etc). The fox impact spod is decent now they sorted out the issues with the pin/hinge. The original spomb is still the best all-rounder. Imo.

That's what I do. Less hassle then leaders etc imo.

Whallop. Good skills mate.

Gents, enlighten me, why would you get a 10ft spod rod? I can't see what benefit it offers. I can just about understand 10 ft carp rods, I guess there is a shout for tight swims/overhangs (even though in 20 years I've never found a spot that can't be fished with 12's). I guess there is a weight saving too (although very, very small) if you only fish small waters. But for the spod, you're not going to be spodding in some tight little snag swim anyway so I can't see that benefit?

💪 Deserves a 60 that.

Mate, brutal.

So I hear, my mates are down at Cherpont in the Limousin region, they reckon it was absolutely savage last night! They moved to the deeper water yesterday and it seems to be paying off, a fish a piece I'm told. Gutted for the loss mate. Keep at it.

Not a chance for me fella. What kind of catty?

Might be worth seeking out the deeper water Phil, temps are due to drop over the coming days.

100% yes Phil. At 100 yards you can fish them proper bowstring and the last 40 will still be on the deck imo. That'll help you land them, so much easier to work around tight lines. I'd up the baiting too - work it baby!!

In summer i.e. post spawning they'll eat almost anything but I find boilies are at their most effective at that point. In my experience boilie and pellet will out-fish particle at the height of summer. The carp go mental trying to replace the weight/energy/condition they lose during spawning and boilies are pretty much the best bait for doing that imo.

Yes mate. Great line. They are not snag lines buddy. The CM90 is a great line apparently, very supple I'm told, does everything Pretty well. I believe it's semi stretched however which compromises abrasion resistance.

Good answer Elmo. If I have a couple of fish in the margins to go at in the middle of summer I'll pop a few pellets in by hand. If I see most of the stock going crazy out in the middle in January (rare but I have seen it) I'll fill it in. All depends on the fishing situation.

I bait according to the level of activity in front of me rather then the time of year. If I'm on fish in summer that normally means filling it in with the spomb.

The lightest one they do (the BaseCamp) is actually the Wychwood Tactical with a different label. Decent bedchair - I use the Wychwood version.

I agree. It could be some time before they're really grubbing around mate.

You can spot where the carp are prepared to feed a mile off on silty lakes mate. Just look for the areas of coloured water and for fizzing. Silt is imo the most forgiving substrate to fish, you can chuck almost anything at it, but I'd go with a heli set up and a balanced hookbait bait. My first port of call would be to focus on observation. Your eyes and the fish should tell you what you need to know. Good luck.

Not copies lads, they're the same product from the same factory with a different label attached. They even come in the Trakker/Aqua boxes.

When I had my Delks I carried around a 20 year old Fox Micron as a spare for when they went wrong. The Micron never let me down. Ever.

If I hear no reports of failure due to water ingress for a year post-release I'll be taking a closer look myself. Imo Delks give the best indication, but I suffered constant problems with water ingress, 4 times I needed to send them in for repair. If they fix that, I'm defo interested.

I've had most of the top end alarms over the years. In terms of performance Delks are the best. In terms of the reliability they're the worst (from my personal experience). Fox perform well and are reliable. I keep going back to Fox. The ATT's are decent too.

They're little village ponds by the looks of it mate. Can you you not just ask someone down there?

If there's decent 20s in there I'd go with a 12 ft carp rod in 2.5 TC. Copes with every eventuality.

Yeah, if they can capture that magic that we all felt when we went fishing as kids it could be truly brilliant. The brits have always had that cutting edge when it comes to drama so I'm hoping it's a good'n.